Distributed, renewable generation-units and more efficient use of electric power,demands a developed electric grid. This grid is often referred to as the ?Smart Grid?.This future electric system rise expectations among actors in the existing electricmarket. International organizations share visions of opportunities for electricityconsumers and new actors, ready to enter the market. At the same time, electricutility companies may question the need for some of these upcoming changes, as theyare sometimes expected to lead the development.This paper therefore seeks to investigate the business opportunities related to SmartGrids.

Companies will increasingly begin to link their applications, and the technology that makesthis possible is called integration. The more applications that are connected, the more of the company's data flows through these integrations. It is also clear that data analyses to create business value and to get competitive advantages against its competitors are important. In this paper, we examine how companies create business value and competitive advantages throughthe integration platforms and metadata from the integrations. We have interviewedpeople from three companies in the industrial sector, each with an integration platform.We have also interviewed Enfo Zystems, a company that provides development andmanagement of integration platforms to these customers.

Certification systems, that assess companies? work with social and environmental issues, have emerged in an increasing number of industries. Today, there are environmental certifications for the food industry, the forestry, the fisheries sector and several more. In apparel industry, certification for sustainable working conditions has been of major impact. The property sector is no exception from other industries.

This thesis on the sustainable urban development has the intent to discuss the conservator?s position in alteration of the built environment. An essential component of the thesis consists of a case study in the form of an entry in an open architectural competition for the development of Furuset, an urban residential area in Norway. The thesis? discussion is based on two approaches to change and socio-economic transformations, considered being dominant within the heritage theory and practice: the production of ideas and great narratives and conservation as an instrumental tool.

In recent years, the possibility to deduct expenses for research and development (R&D) has been interpreted narrowly. As a response, the Income Tax Act chapter 16, section 9 (the R&D-rule) was amended to increase the possibility to deduct R&D of more general character. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the meaning of the R&D-rule to be able to decide if the amendment is an extension of the deductibility and whether this amendment can be considered adequate.According to the R&D-rule, the recipient of the grant needs to conduct R&D activity and there needs to be a sufficient connection between the R&D activity and the company to be allowed deduction. The difficulty in applying the R&D-rule is mainly when the research is conducted outside the company and the aim of the research is not to solve the company?s specific problem.The connection between the R&D-activity and the company needs to be reasonable. This means that only R&D-activity that falls completely outside the company?s activities should be excluded from deductibility.

Moldova is one of Europe?s poorest countries with a struggling business environment and an unpredictable political situation. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the implications of corruptions and why networks have come to play a key role in the Moldovan culture and if the formations of network are due to heritage or an effect of functionalism. The focus of the study is also to explain how the networks develop and the formation and maintenance of loyalty and trust among the members of the network. The study is of a qualitative nature that uses a key informant sampling method to get access to members of different business networks.

The aim of this essay is to find some of the main developing tendencies in the advertisement genre during the period of 1930-2000. The analysis is based on three examples of Gevalia cinema and TV-advertisement. Research findings are the result of using theories from different but relevant sciences, which are media, linguistics and rhetoric. Media studies help to explain the influence of the society and technology development on the advertising business. Linguistics and rhetoric give the main methods and terminology for the basic as well as comparing analyses of the three advertisements in question.

My aim with this diploma work is to find out if the students consider development deliberations as a good forum in order to promote their knowledge development or not. I have also examined if the development deliberation is experienced as giving for the pupil or not, what I have been studying from the pupil's perspectives.MethodI have implemented three qualitative interviews with three students from class nine in a compulsory education that lies in Botkyrka municipality. There, I have also an implemented questionnaire survey with two half classes from same class.Materials To my study I have linked literature where research aims himself in on how teachers have worked with development deliberations in the school.Results Students that I have interviewed does consider development deliberations as a knowledgep romoting forum, but most as a forum for clear about study results. The students in the survey consider development deliberations as giving only when the result turns out to bee good.Importance for teachers As each development deliberation is unique, you can not come to a certain implication that all deliberations are experienced in the same way as the result shows. But that can last stakeholder for the teacher is to see how one development deliberation can to be experienced of several students.

How can we plan so that smallscale industry and businesses can become an integrated part of the city? The densifying process in search of new housing areas that is going on in most swedish cities threatens to undermine the diversity and complex make up of central parts of many cities. To sustain industrial activities in central locations is critical to this diversity. This thesis discusses how to reach a sustainable city planning with Bellevue, a small industry and business area in central Gothenburg, as an example..

AbstractTitle: Corporate Social Responsibility within the banking-sector ? A case study of the CSR-strategies of Nordea.Seminar date: 130108State University: Mälardalen University ? Västerås Institution: School of Sustainable Development of Society and TechnologyLevel: Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration ? FÖA300Authors: Samir Ghaddab, Josefine Jonsson, Sam LindforsExaminor: Cecilia Lindh Thillenius Supervisor: Magnus LinderströmPages: 35 Attachments: 1 Key words: CSR, bank, sustainability, communication, awarenessResearch questions:- What is the nature of CSR-related work in Nordea, and how do they practice CSR? - How can Nordea raise awareness about CSR among employees and other stakeholders?Purpose: The purpose with this thesis was to get an increased understanding about how Nordea interprets CSR and how they work with CSR. Finally with relevant theories in mind, this thesis presents suggestions on possible changes and opportunities within Nordea?s CSR-activities and how they can co-operate with NGO?s like CSR Sweden.Methodology: A qualitative study with deductive methods. A case study has been done with semi-structured interviews at a company and a nonprofit organization.Conclusion: The reality in which Nordea operates conforms to the theories presented in the thesis when we look at the driving forces behind working with CSR and the demands on the company that stakeholders have.

sustainable development by reducing the energy use by EU:s directive of energy efficiency and the UN Convention. The second purpose is to present the technical solutions regarding ventilation and heating system that is being used in passive houses. This was done using 8 passive houses, 4 germany and 4 swedish passive houses. Even the international and Swedish system requirements for passive houses have been addressed in this project. The goal was also to explain how and why the mechanical system in passive houses has developed to the technology used today.

During the last years, the importance of sourcing in firms has increased. Globalization, fierce competition and an increased level of outsourcing are common explanations to why firms have highlighted the potential to realize savings and the value creation that the Purchasing department can generate. One trend that follows in parallel with globalization is an increased pressure from society on firms to take responsibility for the impact that its products and services have on the environment. This responsibility creates even more attention as outsourcing involves trade with suppliers in low wage countries, where the level of environmental and social responsibility is not always satisfying. The Purchasing department, the firm?s interface with suppliers should therefore, together with the firm?s Environmental department, play a key role in the firm?s contribution towards sustainable development.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vilka samband det finns mellan värderingar, föreställningar och normer kring miljön till agerande för ekologisk hållbarhet i det vardagliga livet. Vår hypotes var att det finns samband mellan affekter kring miljöns framtid och agerande till hållbar utveckling. För att söka svar på syftet och bekräfta hypotesen har enkäter med frågor gällande individens värderingar, föreställningar och normer om miljön samt frågor om miljömässigt agerande skickats ut via e-post till 119 deltagare i åldern 23-65 år. Svarsfrekvensen var på 59 procent. Resultatet visade att det fanns ett flertal starka samband mellan miljömässiga värderingar, föreställningar och normer till individens agerande och hypotesen om att det fanns samband mellan affekter och agerande för hållbar utveckling verifierades.

Business Intelligence may help organizations in making the right decisions byproviding data for analysis which can be presented to decision makers. DataWarehouse which is a central part of Business Intelligence can be built in severalways but the methods presented by Ralph Kimball and Bill Inmons are considered thetwo main methods. The solution provided by Inmon focuses on integrating the entirebusiness into one large database using relational database development. Kimballhowever proposes dimensional database modeling by creating one or more data martsand integrating these using a data bus. Previous research has shown that the quality ofa Data Warehouse can be measured through critical factors such as data quality andsystem quality.

An increasing global population and a worldwide growing urbanization has raised the questionabout the future food security in cities all over the world. Peak-oil limits the access to cheap fossilfuels which threatens the global food-supply chain. This has resulted in a larger awareness anddiscussion related to urban agriculture. Growing crops and keeping animals within the city-borderscould be one way of creating a more robust and sustainable food supply for city dwellers. However,to enable an expansion of the urban agriculture many theorists argue that policies and institutionalstructures that supports and promotes city farming have to be developed.